Virginia Bound? Jewelfreak and Callie

[MMtwo]

This is to continue an off topic conversation with Jewelfreak and Callie (and anyone else that cares to join) about living in Virginia.


Hi Moneymeiser, My husband and I also have Virginia on our list of possible place to retire. We were there maybe 15 years ago and loved a town called Warrenton (I beleive). I also loved Middleburg but that would have been to expensive, We almost purchased a home in a subdivision there. The picture you posted above would be a dream come true for me. My only question would be is there really good shopping about an hour away? I want to retire some place pretty. Would you have any suggestions for towns to retire?

Thank you, Callie

 

[MMtwo]

So Callie,

I have a couple of ideas. First need to know if you want to stay close to DC? Anything that is commutable to DC (Warrenton and Middlesburg) will be pricier than living a little further out.

Shopping is available in the No.VA area, Winchester, Harrisonburg, Charlottesville and Richmond, as well as Roanoke and Tidewater. The traffic in No. Va is trying to say the least. Luxe shopping is available in Charlottesville and Richmond and Roanoke. Harrisonburg has the typical department stores, but is not particularly upscale (Kohls and Belk).

Staunton is a beautiful town across the mountains from Charlottesville but is a little less pricey. The drive over 64 to Charlottesville is only 1/2 hour. I would say much depends on the type of house you want, and if you are looking for something with land, a condo, or a upscale neighbourhood. The area from Winchester to Roanoke is particularly scenic.

Anytime you or Jewelfreak make it to Virginia, I would be happy to drive around with you and play tour guide

 

[Calliecake]

Thank you so much Moneymeiser. I'll start looking at realtor sites to check on housing prices. We won't be retiring for at least 5 years but my husband wants us to start narrowing down where we may end up and start visiting cities we are interested in. We have been bouncing different locations around lately trying to get ideas. Who knows where we will end up.

 

[Calliecake]

Jewel freak,

This is the thread Moneymeiser was kind enough to post for both of us. My husband and I plan on taking a trip to Virginia next spring to get more retirement ideas. We were almost transferred to the Manassas area years ago and loved it there. Please post any areas you found attractive for retirement. Thank you and good luck.

Callie

 

[JewelFreak]

Moneymeiser honey, thank you for the gorgeous photo of exactly where I want to live! My toothbrush is packed with my jammies.

You mentioned Staunton -- it is kind of a neat town -- my impression is that it's pretty expensive, but that's only from internet roaming so maybe I'm wrong. DH & I both like rural type locations, but not deep into the backwaters where you have to drive an hour to a grocery store. I'm undecided about a bunch of land or not -- don't want to be crowded into a development definitely, but when we get more rickety, how much can we take care of? The idea is to downsize, after all. We would also love an old house, but again, the cost of maintenance & if necessary, renovation, might be too much on a retirement income. Ick, I hate reality!

I want to be within an hour of some culture, like museums, etc. What about areas in the vicinity of Lexington, Roanoke, Lynchburg? A few yrs ago somebody told me that Loudon County had a lot of developers on the county Board & was going to fill up with building -- is it? Just want to know where to avoid. We live here in one of the fastest-growing counties in the U.S. & I've watched beautiful fields, woods, farms, and history, fall to bulldozers over 10 years. Makes me want to sob. I positively must live where they treasure & try to keep the country & beauty they have.

Any suggestions or ideas would be super. I'll post some of the realtor sites I check, if anyone else is looking. Most of mine specialize in antique houses, though. Wishful thinking probably.

--- Laurie

 

[diamondseeker2006]

We lived in a county outside of Richmond years ago and really liked it. But my favorite area of VA (that is reasonably affordable) is over near Roanoke because of the gorgeous mountains but still having the access of a city. We also went many years in the summer to Mountain Lake Lodge (not too far from Blacksburg) where some of Dirty Dancing was filmed, and it was such a beautiful drive. I love VA and think there are many beautiful places to live there.

Jewelfreak, have you considered the western part of NC? There are gorgeous mountain areas in NC within a reasonable drive to Asheville, too.

 

[JewelFreak]

Yes, DS, I have thought about western NC. I have 2 major passions, neither of which I can indulge there or here: Civil War history & gems. I also really miss culture, like museums & the stuff you get in more cosmopolitan cities, even the size of Charlottesville. Atlanta has things I'd love to see but it's a 3-hr drive, which makes seeing anything an overnight chore, once you factor in time to do whatever it is and fight traffic. We lived in San Francisco for 9 years & Ashville isn't a thrill for either DH or me -- more like a smaller Berkeley, which didn't thrill us either. So it would be back to wishing for more to do.

However, I need to live where there's space and nature. Cities, been there, done that. Don't want to live urban again, but not so rural I can't get to a city when the mood strikes. Ha! All this for as little money as possible! (Case in point: an adorable fawn is playing in my front yard right now -- I can see it from my desk. Still pretty small for this time of year, must have been a late birth.) Actually, my ideal would be less than an acre in the middle of farms, so I could have the countryside without the maintenance or taxes. That ought to be a cinch, huh?

Central Virginia & south central are possible -- there appear to be some good antique houses for reasonable prices, low property taxes too, in some of those counties. I would like to get away from Piedmont climate, though, if possible. I LOVE S. Carolina but the climate is just murder -- the heat flattens me.

If anybody can give me thoughts on Va taxes, I'd be grateful. And towns where there's neat stuff to do.

--- Laurie

 

[Obsessed!]

Check out a small town called Scottsville, VA. It's about 35-40 minutes south of Charlottesville, VA. Some of it is in Albermarle County, but part is in Fluvanna County and part in Buckingham County. I know you were concerned about Albermarle County taxes, but the other two may be better. I know the real estate is less expensive in those counties. It's a neat little community, has some interesting historical significance and is right on the James River. Still close enough to Charlottesville to enjoy everything that it has to offer, but far enough from town to be rural.

 

[JewelFreak]

Thank you, Virginia. I have seen, in roaming websites, some neat antique houses in Scottsville. Didn't realize it straddled all those counties, though. I will keep an eye on it & give it a visit when we go up there to look around. You're right, I want to keep property taxes as low as possible. They've about doubled for this house in 10 yrs. I suppose that's par for the course -- similar in our last house in Conn. -- so on a retirement income, I'd like to start low.

Here are a few realtor websites I've liked, if anyone else is looking in VA.
http://jfbrownrealestate.com/

http://www.horsleyrealestate.com/

http://www.horsleyrealestate.com/

Anybody else have advice, info, ideas, experience on Virginia as a place to live???

--- Laurie

 

[Obsessed!]

Oh! I totally forgot, I was going to suggest that you look in Nelson County. There is a town called Nellysford that has a lot retired people. It is close to Wintergreen resort, lots of wine country, breweries, rural, but has a cute little town. It is about 45 minutes from Charlottesville, so close enough. And beautiful mountain views. I love it there.

Maybe look into Harrisonburg, VA and Roanoke, VA. There is also a nice area around Smith Mountain Lake that might be worth looking into.

 

[Calliecake]

Oh! I totally forgot, I was going to suggest that you look in Nelson County. There is a town called Nellysford that has a lot retired people. It is close to Wintergreen resort, lots of wine country, breweries, rural, but has a cute little town. It is about 45 minutes from Charlottesville, so close enough. And beautiful mountain views. I love it there.

Maybe look into Harrisonburg, VA and Roanoke, VA. There is also a nice area around Smith Mountain Lake that might be worth looking into.

Thank you so much for your suggestions Virgina.

Laurie, I've been looking at the real estate sites you listed. So many beautiful properties. It sounds like we want some to the same things. I would prefer to build a new home with an acre of land backing up to everyone else's beautiful acreage! I also want the home to have low taxes! Chicago area taxes are outrageous!

 

[JewelFreak]

Harrisonburg is a town I haven't run into in my searches -- thanks, Virginia, I'll check it out. Have seen some neat houses around Nellysford -- nice to hear it's worth taking a look at. I do miss winter (not the ones I grew up with in Rochester NY, lol) but some snow & all that stuff is fun to have so that area might be good.

Will check Smith Mountain Lake -- though I don't want to get involved in developments with HOAs, not our thing to be told where & what we can plant, how long our grass must be, the color of our house, etc. That's my objection to Lake Monticello -- some nice houses but too developed & official.

Callie -- maybe we should move next door! I can imagine you want to ditch Chicago & Illinois taxes, yike. We felt the same when we left Connecticut. They are a little lower where we are now than in Virginia but I don't think the difference is huge. Glad you like the realtor sites -- I have several more but they are almost all for antique houses only (which we probably won't be able to swing but would love to).

--- Laurie

 

[Calliecake]

Laurie, Sounds good to me. We can go jewery hunting together! Where are you currently living, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm much better off getting a new house as my husband is the furthest thing from handy and I'm pretty particular with what I want in our house. I told him last night I wanted to increase our housing budget for retirement.

I can't wait to get away from the long winters and last winter in Chicago was enough to put anyone over the edge!

 

[JewelFreak]

So have you always lived in VA? Beautiful place to grow up. Horse country would be perfect, from my viewpoint, though I can't afford the horses myself. That's the idea -- move next to somebody who has them & be their new best friend! We have neighbors here with horses & donkeys, which I also adore.

No, places like Lake Monticello aren't for me. Yack! The only sort of development I'd live in would be similar to where we live now -- it totals just under 300 acres with 85 houses in it. Some people have 15 acres, others various amounts down to 1 acre (like us), with lots of woods & pasture, streams & a pond. No HOA here, and everybody knows everbody else's business, haha. Great help, though -- if anyone is sick, say, neighbors mow the lawn, walk the dog, whatever. We are in North Carolina, btw, since you asked.

I like towns where everybody knows everyone -- grew up in one like that. To some, it's icky that you have few secrets but the added benny is that people look out for each other. All those town names are familiar to me from roaming realtor sites & it's great to hear what their "personalities" are like.

There seem to be a lot of things going on in that part of the state too, right? Like festivals, etc., -- I read about a trip to Civil War sites with a historian from one town, forget which.

--- Laurie

 

[JewelFreak]

Thanks for the complete reply, Virginia. I passed that last one on to my DH. Can you tell me about the weather? Do you get snow? How much if so? I assume summers are similar to here, though maybe it cools off a bit earlier & doesn't get hot as quickly. I miss some winter -- January is our winter month, period, & one snowstorm of 3" maybe every 5 yrs. The rest of the time it's a little colder than fall, but not much. It is very pretty where I live but gosh, Va. is so lovely.

I'm going to have to let you know when I come up there to look around. Due to our animals, I'll make the first reconnaissance trips & get DH to go along once I have stuff to suggest to him. We can go look at gems!!

-- Laurie

 

[Calliecake]

Thank you so much for all your information on the area. You are making me want to pack up and go to Virginia. I also am very interested to hear about your weather.

Laurie, You and I are definately thinking along the same lines. We were talking this weekend about taking trips to visit different locations. I told him I'd prefer to go on a few trips and meet with a realtor and once I found viable options we could go together. He doesn't particularly care doing all the research and he also thought it made sense because if I didn't think we would be happy in a certain location there really wasn't any need for him to check it out. I'm no longer working so I have far more free time than he does.

 

[Obsessed!]

When you ladies have seen these pictures I might go back and edit to post to take them out, they kind of make me easily identifiable since I am a photographer

 

[Calliecake]

Thank you so much Virginia. Your pictures are beautiful. I completely understand you wanting to take them down for privacy reasons.

The weather sounds great. As much as I don't want to be around snow all winter, I do still want yo see it a couple times during the winter months.

 

[JewelFreak]

Beautiful, Virginia! If you want to take them out, I understand. I love the photo of Scottsville! Didn't realize it was quite so small -- cute town, similar to the one I grew up in, which isn't so small anymore unfortunately. The photo of the farm is just up my alley -- my dream would be an old farmhouse. I know there are a lot of them in that area. Sounds like just about enough winter for me too -- some snow but not the piles & piles & mounds of it that the north has. My grandparents lived in Annapolis -- winter there had a little snow, lots of sleet, & cold that entered your bones, probably due to the moisture off the water, but I kind of liked it. Made it nice to be inside but didn't prevent you from getting out.

You have been a huge help! Thank you so much for taking the trouble. Calliecake & I will be toddling along soon, right, Callie?

--- Laurie

 

[Calliecake]

Beautiful, Virginia! If you want to take them out, I understand. I love the photo of Scottsville! Didn't realize it was quite so small -- cute town, similar to the one I grew up in, which isn't so small anymore unfortunately. The photo of the farm is just up my alley -- my dream would be an old farmhouse. I know there are a lot of them in that area. Sounds like just about enough winter for me too -- some snow but not the piles & piles & mounds of it that the north has. My grandparents lived in Annapolis -- winter there had a little snow, lots of sleet, & cold that entered your bones, probably due to the moisture off the water, but I kind of liked it. Made it nice to be inside but didn't prevent you from getting out.

You have been a huge help! Thank you so much for taking the trouble. Calliecake & I will be toddling along soon, right, Callie?

--- Laurie

Virginia and Moneymieser, Thank you both for your help and all the information you have provided. Virginia, it really help to hear from someone who loves the area.

Laurie, When are you and your husband hoping to make a move? We have a couple years before my husband wants to retire but he would like to purchase our new home before he retires.

 

[Obsessed!]

Glad I could help! I do really love the area, I feel very lucky to live here! Good luck with your searches, Ladies!

 

[Calliecake]

Glad I could help! I do really love the area, I feel very lucky to live here! Good luck with your searches, Ladies![/quote

I read your posts to my husband. He is also excited about checking out the areas you mentioned.

 

[JewelFreak]

Callie, I'm hoping to put our house on the market in the spring. I've been wanting to disappear from here for several years; to me, this is a very boring area -- nothing available that I'm interested in. As far as I'm concerned, the sooner the better. It's just a matter of getting all the stuff done to this house that it will need; from what I've heard from neighbors who've sold, buyers want a new house for an old-house price. Grump!

--- Laurie

 

[Calliecake]

Laurie, I thought we had a few years before we were going to seriously look. Now he wants to find a location and home in the next two years. I do think it will be difficult for me when we leave this area. Most of our family is here.